BLC Communities

At the heart of BLC are its membership Communities. These Communities drive BLC's core activities forward and welcome members from across the BLC network.

 BLC Communities range from spaces designed for professional networking and idea sharing among colleagues, to board-appointed committees and groups focused on specific projects or initiatives. Learn more and get involved, here.

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Standing Committees

BLC's Standing Committees are appointed by the BLC Board of Directors to oversee core operational and strategic areas of consortial activity.

Steering Committees

Steering Committees and Working Groups

Steering Committees and Working Groups focus on emergent opportunities and collaborative initiatives, usually with a fixed duration.

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Communities of Practice

BLC's Communities of Practice are forums for collaboration and exchange around common areas of practice, with membership restricted to individuals with specific roles and responsibilities.

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Communities of Interest

Communities of Interest are forums for collaboration and exchange around common areas of practice and current issues, open to all interested individuals.

Caucuses at BLC

Caucuses

BLC's Caucuses are forums for collaboration, exchange, and conversation for under-recognized library workers or LIS students (at any level), open to all regional library workers or students (within and outside of BLC) who identify.

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Board Committees

BLC's Board of Directors maintains three committees: the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee and the Governance Committee. 

Resources for BLC Communities

Recommended Practices for BLC Communities

Recommended Practices for BLC Communities

This document aims to guide Communities while allowing them the flexibility to determine and adopt procedures that suit their needs.

Find info on:

  • Co-Chair Expectations and Support
  • Communications and Meeting Practices

 

BLC Community Proposal Template

New Community Proposal Template

Librarians and library staff interested in creating new BLC Communities are encouraged to work with the BLC team to submit a proposal.

Proposals should include:

  • An Exploration of Need
  • Community Charge
  • Description of Potential Activities 
Funding for BLC Communities

Funding for BLC Communities

BLC Communities of Interest, Communities of Practice, Working Groups, Committees, Caucuses, and independent coalitions may apply for funding awards to enrich their collective work. 

Find info on:

  • BLC's Innovation Fund
  • BLC's Reserve Fund
  • Recently Funded Projects

Standing Committees

BLC's Standing Committees are appointed by the BLC Board of Directors to oversee core operational and strategic areas of consortial activity.

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Heads of Resource Sharing

Provides oversight of BLC’s ILL service and makes recommendations to the BLC board.

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Heads of Resource Management

Defines and articulates a vision for a BLC collective collection, and more.

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Steering Committees and Working Groups

BLC's Steering Committees and Working Groups focus on emergent opportunities and collaborative initiatives, usually with a fixed duration.

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Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Steering Committee

Articulating an EDI strategy and long-term goals to advance consortial EDI efforts at scale. 

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OCLC Steering Committee
OCLC Steering Committee

Advising BLC's Board on OCLC products, services, and group subscriptions.

Communities of Practice

BLC's Communities of Practice are forums for collaboration and exchange around common areas of practice, with membership restricted to individuals with specific roles and responsibilities.

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Senior Managers

Share ideas and best practices on leadership, strategy, and library organization.

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Human Resources

Develop and execute project-based initiatives to create change in HR policy and practice.

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Alma/Primo

Develop, pilot, and collaborate on projects with Alma/Primo libraries in the BLC.

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BLC Leads Alumni

Network, grow, and collaborate. The BLC Leads Alumni COP is open to all alumni of the BLC Leads program.

Start here

Communities of Interest

BLC's Communities of Interest are forums for collaboration and exchange around common areas of practice and current issues, open to all interested individuals.

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Access Services

Network, share resources, and learn from colleagues about Access Services issues.

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Archives and Special Collections

Network, share, discuss, and act on issues of importance to archives and special collections.

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Assessment

Share information and support colleagues in assessment activities and learning.

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Business

Discuss day-to-day and lifecycle management of library resources across all formats 

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Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion

Collaborate on and discuss current institution member EDI projects, programming, and services.

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Government Documents

Collaborate and discuss issues relating to providing government information for research.

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Health Sciences

Discover a supportive community for sharing health sciences resources for library workers.

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Media

Discuss issues and developments in the field of audiovisual media, from analog to digital formats.

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Metadata and Resource Management

Discuss day-to-day and lifecycle management of library resources across all formats.

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Open Education Resources

Support and expand the use of open educational resources across BLC member libraries.

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Resource Sharing

Network, learn, and help BLC libraries provide quality, cost-effective, and timely interlibrary loan.

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Science & Engineering

Discuss issues related to science and engineering library work.

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Technology

Share information, collaborate, communicate with vendors, and learn from colleagues.

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Web Archiving

Collaborate about issues related to web archiving in libraries and the broader GLAM community.

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Caucuses

It is important for marginalized groups to have exclusive spaces where they can come together for purposes of healing, sharing, and organization. The Boston Library Consortium's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Community of Interest (EDI COI) has established caucuses for underrepresented library workers or LIS students (at any level) in the Northeastern region of the United States.

Those who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual/Aromantic/Agender (LGBTQIA+) are welcome.

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BIPOC

This is a space exclusively for BIPOC library workers and LIS students.

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LGBTQIA+

This is a space exclusively for LGBTQIA+ library workers and LIS students.

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Board Committees

The Board of Directors maintains three committees whose composition is limited to current BLC board members: the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee and the Governance Committee. 

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Governance Committee

Responsible for sustaining a dynamic and effective board.

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Executive Committee

Delegated the oversight of current and ordinary business of BLC.

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Finance Committee

Provides general financial oversight of BLC.

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